In my never ending quest to eliminate the vast number of resource wasting utilities, files, services, startup programs, and boot-up loaders that software companies insist on foisting onto my PC, I take out Revo Uninstaller from time to time and start removing bloatware wherever I find it. Recently, a new error message started popping up whenever I started MS Word, or Excel, or Outlook saying that my copy of Office 2007 was not genuine.
It started happening right after I uninstalled Outlook Connector.
Hidden Vampire Processes Suck Your Computer’s Blood
Of course, even uninstalling programs is not enough. There are plug-ins, add-ons, hidden processes, and all kinds of other shifty tricks and shenanigans that software makers use to hide the fact that they are indeed wasting my computer’s resources for their purposes and not for mine.
The worst offender in this category has to be Adobe. Adobe pre-loads part of Acrobat Reader during system startup on every single boot. The reason? Acrobat Reader has grown so bloated and inefficient that loading the program takes so long that many computer users re-click the icon or otherwise try and start the program again, assuming, correctly, that there is just no way any normal computer program would take that long to startup. Of course, when people figure out just how big of a dog Acrobat Reader is, they complain, or even worse for the company, they uninstall it and use one of the many vastly superior, better performing, and free alternatives. (I use Foxit Reader myself, but there are several others that are just as good. Check out FileHippo.com to see and download Acrobat Reader alternative utilities.)
In order for Adobe to save face, they have decided to waste memory, increase bootup duration, and interfere with the startup process of every single computer in the world with Reader installed just to make itself look a little bit better.
Not just no, but HELL NO.
So, when I decided I didn’t need Outlook Connector anymore (mostly because Outlook wouldn’t stop deleting all my cell phone contacts every time I plugged my phone in and ran ActiveSync) I didn’t just use the Microsoft sanctioned removal process, I ran Revo Uninstaller.
Revo runs the regular uninstall program from any software and once that program is done, Revo searches the registry and the hard drive to see if the remove process didn’t manage to get everything, either deliberately, or through sloppy coding. It then displays what it found and asks you if you want to delete that other stuff too. I always Select All and then choose Delete.
While I was in there, I went ahead and mashed Microsoft Office Groove too. Groove is for sharing and collaboration, and I do neither, so I don’t need it running sometimes, all the time, or even just rarely. No means no.
Fix Office 2007 Not Genuine Error Without Crack or Hack
It is hard to know exactly when the error started occurring relative to uninstalling Outlook Connector and Groove because I don’t reboot my computer every day. When I do shut my PC off and then turn my computer on, it is often automated. (Orbit Download Manager has an option I love that shuts down the PC when it has finished downloading all the files you queued up.) I also don’t necessarily use Microsoft Office programs every day either. However, the error message did start occurring very shortly after the uninstall, so while I can’t say with certainty that is what caused it, I see pretty strong circumstantial evidence. If you started having the same error message occur after uninstalling Office components, I don’t think it is too much of a stretch to come to the same conclusion.
How to get rid of Office 2007 not genuine error message pop-up windows is the question. Supposedly, I can post some sort of message to Microsoft, run some utility, give them the dump file, and they’ll “get back to me” with an answer. Yeah, I’m going to wait for that.
There is supposedly a Office 2007 Genuine Validation crack program out there, but
- a) I don’t like installing things from hackers unless I have to, and
- b) Cracking Office Genuine Validation sounds like one of those things that is going to get messed up later via some live update or service pack or even some Microsoft Live download.
So, that sounds like a pass.
What other option is there?
It turns out that some registry entries determine whether or not the Microsoft Genuine Software Validation program bothers to check the software being run. Change these registry entries from their default “Run Validation Check” to “Don’t Run Validation Check” and the not genuine error messages will go away and stop appearing.
Even better, because the Validation check software is still installed and functional (it just isn’t getting the message to startup), your computer won’t keep prompting you to install the validation utility every time you try and update your software or download a Word template, Excel template, or Office template from office.microsoft.com
The registry entries are in HKEY_Local_Machine. Run your registry editor and search for OGAAddin.connect. There can be several depending upon whether you have Office 2007 Professional, Office 2007 Enterprise, or Office 2007 Home & Student. Plan on at least 3 and maybe several.
Change the value of Load Behavior from 3 to 0. Ignore any keys you find called OGAAddin.connect without a Load Behavior value. (These are not in HKEY_Local_Machine, but the Find function of regedit isn’t very precise.)
Voila, your Office 2007 software is running again without bugging you about being genuine, or not genuine.
Hey thanks! Does this mean when the 12 days counts down it will still work or is this fix just getting rid of the notifications?
That is kind of 2 questions in one.
If your version has already counted down and locked itself (or whatever it does), I don’t think this is a fix.
If you haven’t used up the 12 days, or whatever it is, then this will stop the checking which means that the countdown will not continue.
Hope that helps.